Golf shoes and other types of athletic footwear, are provided with cleats or spikes for enhancing the traction of users wearing such footwear when participating in various athletic activities. The cleats or spikes are typically attached to the soles and heels of the shoes using threaded male-female fastener arrangements. Such fastener arrangements typically consist of a plurality of internally threaded inserts disposed in the heel and sole of each golf shoe. The spikes each have a base with a threaded post extending from the base in a direction opposite from the spike. Each spike is attached to the shoe by threading the post of the spike into one of the internally threaded inserts disposed in the sole or heel of the golf shoe, and detached from the shoe by unthreading the post of the spike from its associated insert. This requires applying a turning or rotational torque to the golf spike to thread and unthread it from the insert. Accordingly, various means in the form of slots, apertures and the like, have been provided on the base of the golf spike to enable the application of the turning torque to the spike to thread and unthread it from the insert. Hand tools of various sorts for aiding in the threading and unthreading golf spikes, have been designed to engage such means so that the additional torque provided by such tools can be applied to the spike.
During normal use of the golf shoes, the golf spikes wear out, bend, break, or chip and thus, must be replaced. In the past, the spikes were made from metal and therefore, corroded over the normal course of use because of the spike's placement at the bottom of the shoe. Moreover, water, dirt, chemicals and other foreign substances foul the area of engagement between the spike and its associated threaded insert, thus, even with the use of the aforementioned hand tools, removal of the spikes can require the use of extreme force or even power tools. Further, worn out or broken spikes may result in wearing or partial destruction of the threaded inserts, and/or the hand tool engaging means on the base of the spike, all of which make unthreading more difficult.
More recently, the problem of corrosion and spike breakage has been addressed by golf spikes made from a soft, pliable plastic material, which are known in the art as "soft golf spikes." An example of a soft golf spike is shown in FIGS. 1A-1C and designated by numeral 10. As shown, the soft golf spike 10 has a circular base 12 with an outer diameter D of just under 7/8" and a beveled edge 18. Eight (8) spaced-apart, wedge-shaped protrusions 14 extend radially in a spiraling manner from the center of the base 12 on a first side thereof and an externally threaded post 16 extending from the center of the base 12 on a second side thereof. The dimensions of the externally threaded post 16 are sized such that the post 16 can be received in a standard internally threaded insert found in the sole and heels of a typical golf shoe. Since the protrusions 14 are made from a soft plastic material, they tend to be prone to excessive wear which requires frequent replacement of the spike 10. This excessive wearing of the protrusions 14 of the spike 10 is illustrated by FIGS. 1B and 1C, where FIG. 1B depicts a new soft golf spike with full height protrusions 14, and FIG. 1C depicts a well used soft golf spike with excessively worn protrusions 14.
Existing spike removing hand tools similar to the ones shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,072 to Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,943 to Edwards, U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,634 to Ryder, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,762 to Acrea, are presently used for threading and unthreading soft golf spikes from their associated internally threaded inserts disposed in the sole and heels of conventional golf shoes. The hand tools shown in these patents generally include a pair of blunt-ended pins or fingers which are spaced apart such that the pins can be received in the apertures of a conventional spike to thread and unthread the spike from its insert. When such spike removing hand tools are used to install or remove a soft golf spike, each blunt-ended pin or finger is inserted between a pair of the protrusions on the soft golf spike. However, the excessive wear and tear of the protrusions and the accumulation of dirt between the protrusions combine to make it nearly impossible to use existing hand tools to unthread the worn soft golf spike from its associated insert because the blunt-ended pins slip easily out of the space between the worn down protrusions when a rotational torque is applied thereto.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved hand-tool for threading and unthreading soft golf spikes in and out of the heel and/or sole of a golf shoe which substantially avoids the problems associated with prior art hand-tools.